FROM the PRESIDENT
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Hello to all WBH members. I would like to thank the WBH members who have renewed their membership and say a big thank you and welcome to all new members. As your president, I, along with the WBH board of directors, encourage you to contact us whenever you have questions or concerns regarding WBH or any bowhunting related topics. We were elected to serve you, so please reach out to us!
As an organization, we continually strive to make WBH the best archery organization in the nation by keeping our membership informed of any new proposed regulations that pertain to the archery world we all love. As part of this process WBH periodically posts updates on our official website and on our Facebook page regarding any such proposals we hear about. WBH also communicates with the membership via email when warranted. However, maintaining up-to-date email addresses is an ongoing problem, making this method rather hit or miss. If you have any ideas on how we can better communicate with you please contact me or Julie at the WBH office. We are always open to suggestions.
Thank you to all the members who either sold tickets or bought tickets for our past raffles. WBH will again be holding our December calendar raffle. Tickets will be available as soon as all the paperwork is approved by the state. The cost of the calendar raffle and prize structure will be the same as last year, with only 1,000 calendars available. WBH is also planning to hold an electric bicycle raffle, starting right after the first of the year. The drawing for the e-bike will be held at the 2026 WBH annual membership convention.
Speaking of the 2026 WBH annual membership convention, while it is only August, planning has already begun. The convention will be held in Stevens Point at the Holiday Inn on March 7, 2026. This will be a historic convention, as we will be celebrating our 85th year as a state bowhunting organization. Wow! The convention committee is making plans to make this a great convention. It is one that you will not want to miss. With the help of Hoyt archery, we have secured Hoyt Archery pro-staffer Art Hein as our featured speaker. WBH will also have several collectable items commemorating our 85th anniversary that will be available to those in attendance. Any WBH members who wish to help at the convention, or any other event, can contact Julie at the office, or any director, and we will gladly accept your help and put you to work. Likewise, if any WBH member is able to make or donate something that we can use as a raffle or give away item, we would greatly appreciate anything you are able to do. Plan on attending the 85th anniversary convention. It promises to be great fun!
Now let’s shift gears to the annual WBH State Broadhead Shoot. The shoot will again be held at Kennedy Park in New Lisbon. Mark your calendar for the dates of September 5th,6th, and the 7th to attend the shoot. Come and compete against yourself, your friends, or set a goal to ace the course.
Over the years this shoot has been considered a warm up, or final tuning opportunity for bowhunters before the official start of the fall archery season. Lately, attendance for the shoot has been slowly declining. One can speculate on the reasons why, but at the end of the day, the broadhead shoot is still a tradition within WBH that many members consider a great opportunity to come together and enjoy each other’s company. And always remember, the WBH State Broadhead Shoot fulfills part of the core mission of WBH, as defined 85 years ago. While bringing revenue to support WBH is important, not all events WBH sponsors need to make money. However, they all need to support the WBH mission and the WBH State Broadhead Shoot certainly has, and will continue to do so. The board will continue to look for ways to make the broadhead shoot an enjoyable experience and a positive for both the association and the membership. Please consider helping to keep the tradition alive by attending this year’s shoot.
Your WBH board of directors, at their board meeting in June discussed membership dues. At the annual WBH membership meeting held in March, 2025, the members present voted not to discontinue selling life or senior life memberships. Your board needed to discuss what the next step would be. If WBH is to continue selling life and senior life memberships the board may need to consider raising their costs. At this time the board supported not raising any of the individual or family membership dues. Sometime in the future this will need to be addressed. WBH will not be able to continue providing members with all the benefits they are used to at the present membership dues rates for many more years. One big problem we have is the continual decrease in our membership. So, what can we do to increase our membership, or what can we do to replace that financial income because of our shrinking membership? We need a magic wand.
At the June board meeting, the possibility of changing the director’s districts was discussed. Currently, we do not have representation within all districts. A full board would consist of 23 directors, whereas we currently have 12 directors, with 11 vacant positions. This puts an additional burden on the directors to keep WBH functioning properly. There are pros and cons to altering the district layout and this will be another discussion item for the annual WBH Membership meeting, giving the membership the opportunity to put weigh in.
The board also discussed the landowner support program. At this time, if a bowhunter shoots an animal on private property they have the option to send $5.00 to WBH, which WBH will match. WBH then sends $10.00 to the landowner in appreciation for opening their land to someone else. This program does not allow for a bowhunter to ask for payments to be paid to any family member. At this time the board is suggesting doubling the $5.00 contribution by the bowhunter and doubling the amount paid by WBH, thereby providing a $20.00 payment to the landowner. The WBH records currently show only a handful of bowhunters participating in this program according to Julie. I am not sure this is a big issue.
As I write this article, all spring season turkey hunting seasons are done. The only type of hunting with archery equipment that I can think of left to do this time of year is bowfishing. If you have rough fish in your lakes or streams, in addition to being a lot of fun, this can be helpful in keeping you bow shooting muscles in tune. I have participated in this sport a couple of times. I was shooting Red Horse from a tree overhanging the Wisconsin River; no stand, just standing on the tree trunk. Did I mention it’s a lot of fun?
Being an optimist and always looking forward, it is only about 8 weeks until the fall bear hunting season. Good luck to any of you who may have received a bear harvest permit or who are assisting someone else in harvesting a bear. The rest of us will have to wait a few days for the start of the archery season. Yippie!!!!!!
In closing, I pray all of you who are reading this message are enjoying the great world we all get to enjoy each day and are anticipating the fall hunts to come. Best of luck!
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God Bless.
Richard Kirchmeyer, WBH Pres.